TEHRAN – Vestiges of handmade tools, dating back to the Paleolithic era, also called the Old Stone Age, have recently been discovered in an archaeological survey in northern Iran.

The Paleolithic artifacts were discovered during a demarcation project to determine legal boundaries for the historical site of Takht-e Rostam in Neka county, Mazandaran province, ILNA quoted archaeologist Hossein Ramezanpoor as saying on Thursday.

“The site of Takht-e-Rostam was very attractive for human populations [in the Stone Age] due to its geological characteristics and the presence of calcareous formations and chert (a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline),” said Ramezanpoor, who led the survey.

The archaeologist believes the site, which is adjacent to the Caspian Sea, was in fact home to a two-million-old workshop for the production of stone tools and artifacts.

Based on archaeological studies on geological sediments of the area, its deposits date back two million years and as a cultural heritage site is of great value, the report added.

“These sediments [should] not be [normally] seen on the entire southern coasts of the Caspian Sea, and to reach them, [archaeologists] should explore to a depth of several hundred meters, but due to tectonic events, these sediments are visible on the surface today and they also have high values in terms of geo-tourism.”

Back in August, historical vestiges dating back to various eras of history including Iron Age, Bronze Age, Copper Age, and Neolithic era, were discovered in another stratigraphy study conducted in Neka’s Touq Tepe.

According to experts, the discovery of more than one meter of Neolithic-era layers in that excavation was a very important event in shedding new light on the history of the region in the Neolithic period.

Such finding is said to have been made for the first time in the plains of eastern Mazandaran in general and in the plain of Neka in particular.

Soaked in a vibrant history, Mazandaran (also known as Tabarestan) was a cradle of civilization since the beginning of the first millennium BC. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, it was almost overrun in about 720 CE by the Arab raiders.

Its insecure eastern and southeastern borders were crossed by Mongol invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries. Cossacks attacked the region in 1668 but were repulsed. It was ceded to the Russian Empire by a treaty in 1723, but the Russians were never secure in their occupation. The area was restored to Iran under the Qajar dynasty. The northern section of the region consists of a lowland alongside the Caspian and an upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains.

Neolithic, also called the New Stone Age, the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans. It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving. The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period, or the age of chipped-stone tools, and preceded the Bronze Age, or early period of metal tools.

AFM/MG